• Business Lessons

Title: Is Her Money Dirty?

In1963, when I was 23 years old and the Credit and Collections Manager for my family’s business the Jorrie Furniture Company and our best salesman, Taft Riggs, sold a $3500 dollar order.

The merchandise was a red and white flocked velvet sofa with 2 built in end tables and 2 matching red lamps with 2 red and white flocked velvet lampshades.

When the credit application was given to me to approve credit, I saw that she was “self employed, that she would not tell “where” she worked, and that she claimed to have a very large income.

I declined to accept the sale, thinking that the woman was a prostitute.

Taft went to my Dad to complain and Dad called me to his office and asked me:

“Did you turn this sale “down?”

I told him “yes” and he turned the credit application over to read the credit report we had obtained from the local credit bureau and typed on the back of the application, and read it out loud:

“Paid Prompt,”
“Paid Prompt,”
“Paid Prompt,”
“Paid in Advance,”
“Paid Prompt,”
“Paid in Advance.”

“Why did you turn this sale, down?” he said.

I said “Dad, I think she’s a whore and I that is an illegal and immoral business …

and I don’t like doing business with such people, I don’t want them around the store and I don’t think that Jorrie Furniture Company should do business with people in such a dirty business.”

He said to me “Son, is her money, dirty?”

What this Means to me:

I don’t think I have the Right to be Judgmental of the ways others make their livings for I do not know their circumstances and

and unless the Law makes it illegal to do business with these people,

I think they are “people” too,

   they have a right to buy things and live their lives out as best they can,

Robert Jorrie,
1991

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